


A thousand kittens for Haru

by The_8th_Arrow



Category: Free!
Genre: Fic Dump, M/M, fluff? what is fluff?, meow, more like a brotp than an otp but feel free to imagine, no cats are harmed during the making of this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-09
Updated: 2015-02-09
Packaged: 2018-03-11 08:06:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3320162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_8th_Arrow/pseuds/The_8th_Arrow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Haru's home is a feline refuge and the gang takes part in cheering him up after a sudden disaster.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A thousand kittens for Haru

**Author's Note:**

> This is for Daddy in a cat suit and the Shiny Kira Kiran!  
> And I hope everyone would enjoy this story I just dumped here.

His late grandmother once said that where there is fish, there will always be cats.

Haru would like to think so since he like to eat mackerel so much that it became his daily bread for the past ten years or more of his life. He personally did not care for any cats officially since his late grandmother was allergic to them but he did feed a few strays before at the back door or by the torii where Makoto would usually join him to pet a few for himself. When two cats multiplied to four a few years after middle school, he decided to lure them all into his backyard where he could feed them easily and giving them all a place to lounge under his roof. Again, four multiplied to _eight_ and Haru suddenly became worried about his house. He also had the urge to pop up a few names for each of them which he failed with flying colors.

 

 

That was until one day, during a cool and crisp evening of February, when Haru noticed a change in his casual free loaders. He mentally counted each and every one of them by the tail as they munch on their designated plates and noted that he was missing a couple of cats.

Huh... They were probably already been fed by the other houses.

At first, this change had not bothered Haru at all. He would still leave the same number of plates with the same amount of food by the yard, wondering if the strays would come back again.

As it turned out, they never did.

Day by day, the number started to dwindle until he was only preparing one plate of fish and waiting patiently if there were any more cats coming. The lack of feline presence disheartened him almost everyday.

 

 

_To: Makoto_

_I need a thousand kittens._

 

_To: Haru_

_Haru???_

 

_To: Makoto_

_To cheer me up..._

 

_To: Haru_

_What happened?_

 

_To: Makoto_

_My strays are not coming back._

 

_To: Haru_

_You mean the ones you were feeding in your house?_

 

_To: Makoto_

_I think they hate me. Maybe, it's the fish._

 

_To: Haru_

_I don't think that's it. I don't know why but please cheer up. We can go and ask around tomorrow.  
Maybe they saw at least one of them. You still have their pictures, right?_

 

Only, they found out through the local police that the pound collected some strays of cats not too long ago. No one but Makoto saw the deflating look in Haru's face.

 

 

Haru stared suspiciously at the medium sized box in Rei's arms one afternoon. "What is that?"

"You don't know what it is, Haru-chan?" Nagisa piped beside his fellow classmate and causing Haru to further increase his suspicions.

Just what are these two up to now? "No. I don't."

"Uh...good afternoon, Haruka-senpai." The bespectacled teen bashfully made his greeting as he adjusted the box in his arms. "Makoto-senpai called us last week about your dilemma and we are here to inform you that-"

"It's a box of Neon KitKat!" Of course, Nagisa happened to be a lot more jolly like he had been these past few years.

"Nagisa-kun! Don't cut me off!" Rei exclaimed.

"I can very well see that, Nagisa." Haru blinked at both teens before looking towards the box.

Indeed, it was a KitKat carton box and it was haphazardly colored with what seemed to be spray paint of neon on each side. Its lid was closed, making Haru's view of what's inside impossible. Haru was not exactly a chocolate fanatic like Makoto or Nagisa and he's very certain that he did not have a dilemma which he needed a hand with.

What caught his interest in that box were the tiny air holes in the box and...was that a tail peeking out of one hole?

Haru visibly narrowed his eyes. Makoto had something to do with this?

"As I said, Haruka-senpai, Makoto-senpai called us last week about your dilemma and we decided to help. This morning, we saw something by the club room and we thought it should be proper to take it to you as soon as we can."

Nagisa was busy opening the box now and Haru became fascinated with the contents the moment he heard a little mewl in the carton box. Inside was a calico kitten, all yellow and black and white in patches all over its fur. It's surprisingly small and probably only a few weeks old. It was currently huddled up in a corner of the box where a fluffy blanket was. Yellow eyes looked up at him and mewed in greeting. Haru became still.

"We know you miss them Haru-chan but, think of it as their successor. It's a girl, by the way." Nagisa smiled in all honesty, Rei now passing the box to Haru's care.

"I don't know what to say..." Blue eyes gazed at the small thing inside the box, reaching over to smooth a finger over the small head. Her eyes closed in bliss.

Both younger swimmers only smiled in content, seeing how Haru bonded over his newly received kitten.

 

 

"What were you doing in the club room, by the way? It's Sunday." Haru asked and became bewildered again when the two suddenly upped and left with a frantic wave.

And here he thought he would invite them for dinner for a wonderful gift.

 

 

The next day, Gou managed to catch up to Haru before going home and quickly handed him very panicky kitten. It was a grayish cat with a black tiger pattern on its belly and body. It's claws were fully out as it latch on the nearest thing it could latch on which was Haru's uniform, unfortunately.

"It does not like to be picked up but I found it in a cardboard box by the train station. Please, take care of it for me, Haruka-senpai!" She bowed low in pleading before hurrying to catch her ride before the sun sets.

Haru only stood dumbly where he stood, a fussy kitten still clinging to his shirt and Makoto chuckling away behind him.

"Looks like KitKat now has a sibling, right, Haru-chan?"

Haru only stared pointed at him, holding the kitten in his arms now. "This is all your fault."

"Eh?!" Makoto looked taken aback but he had a hundred percent clue as to what Haru was talking about.

 

 

In the end, Haru named the kitten Iwatobi the Second, much to Makoto's pleading to name  _him_ to another. Yes, it's a boy. _  
_

At least, KitKat and Iwatobi got along in their own little devilish ways as they weave through Haru's legs every time he walked along the hallway and Haru could not help but sigh at the two critters.

 

 

A week after, he was surprised at the sudden visit he got from Rin. Well, he's not surprised with Rin's presence within his home since he did slept over a few times already this year.

The new thing this time around was the toy - that's a stuffed toy, right? - nestled inside Rin's jacket with it's furry paws and triangular ears peaking out. Haru could not tell if the redhead was trying to be cute or to tell the world that's he's gone insane by keeping a toy inside his shirt.

That was...until the toy blinked at  _him_.

"Don't tell me that's also a stray."

The redhead only grinned a toothy smile and scooped up the critter out of his jacket. "Too bad it is."

The kitten, a fairly larger size than the other two he's keeping up in his room, also had a tiger pattern on it. This time, it's a mixture of black and white tiger stripes and can be differentiated from the other one with it's snow white paws. The moment Rin passed it to Haru, it suddenly began to bite his thumb but not too hard to cut skin. Like it was riled up or something. Just like Rin, it -  _she_  - got sharp teeth.

"Heh... strays do like you." Rin commented and let himself in. "I wanna see the other two!" 

 

 

This one, he named Akazame after his rival which made Rin laugh all day.

 

 

That night, a few minutes after Rin left after dinner, he heard a persistent knock through his door. 

He wondered if Rin left something but wondered if it was not him since he did not hear the person calling out for his name like Rin would do when he needed something urgent. However, when he opened the door, no one greeted him but air. The front of his house was empty save for a pair of blue eyes staring up at him, its owner and a very little mew it created. He almost missed it since its body was all black like soot.

Another kitten.

Not that Haru was surprised but he bent down towards it, reaching a hand over and watched as the little ball of fur sniffed on it with caution before rubbing itself over. The picture was endearing.

He picked the kitten up in his arms and took a look at the descending stairs from the torii.

Clearly enough, there's a retreating figure walking at a leisurely path down the steps and Haru can only guess one particular name which fit the description of a tall man with a large expanse of shoulder which rivals that of Makoto. Haru could not be mistaken who it was especially when he recognized the jacket he was wearing.

A small smile blossomed across Haru's lips and he raised one of the kitten's paws and waived it in the air.

 

 

That's how Cola came to be within the group of strays Haru adopted.

 

 

"So, this is for KitKat..." Makoto muttered as he slipped a small yellow collar over the little calico devil who was out to mess Makoto's hair. Unfortunately, Makoto put her down next to a very playful Akazame which pounced on her the second she got a chance. Akazame was now sporting a pink collar around her neck.

Iwa-chan, as Makoto would like to call Iwatobi the Second now, already got his red collar and was gnawing at rubber ball near the door. He was very intent on playing with it and chased it across the room. Meanwhile, Cola was sitting beside Haru's feet, acting like a guard on duty if only he was not busy pawing at his blue collar.

He was chopping the ingredients for what looked like curry for lunch while Makoto was busy playing with the cats, He even brought the white cat from the stairs which he usually greet in the morning. All in all, Haru got six mouths to feed.

"Makoto." Haru called out quietly, his back turned to the brunet and was still chopping.

"Yes, Haru?" Makoto looked up from where he was seated on the tatami with KitKat and Akazame on his lap.

"...Thank you."  _For the gifts._ He was talking about the kittens playing happily around the room. _  
_

Of course, these two small words always have a bigger and a much larger meaning for Makoto than it would have since Haru never utter them often. It would always make his smile grow widely and his day a lot brighter.

"You're welcome, Haru-chan~"

Haru only nodded, not noticing how his silence permitted the use of that recurrent word that was always following his name whenever Makoto or Nagisa call for him. He's give in to that. For now.

The curry was on its process of boiling and the moment he pulled out the fish from the fridge, all kittens scrambled towards his feet and meowing for a piece.

Haru almost lost his balance. Makoto merely laughed.

"Makoto! Get them off me!"

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the status:  
> "I need a thousand kittens to cheer me up because of one. little. fanfic---  
> Okay, chill."  
> \- by yours truly.


End file.
